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High profile lawyer, Martin Hunter (Michael Douglas) has an impeccable record putting criminals behind bars and is a shoo-in for governor in the upcoming election. But when ambitious rookie journalist, C.J. Nicholas (Jesse Metcalfe) begins investigating Hunter for tampering with evidence to secure his convictions, the district attorneys perfect record is up for scrutiny. Commencing a risky game of cat and mouse with Hunter, C.J. frames himself as a murder suspect to catch the corrupt D.A. in the act. (studio)

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An ambitious reporter takes an extraordinary risk to bring down a corrupt district attorney in Beyond a Reasonable Doubt, a modern-day remake of Fritz Lang's final feature. On occasion, Shreveport newsman C.J. (Jesse Metcalfe, Desperate Housewives) receives confidential tips from assistant D.A. Ella (Amber Tamblyn, Joan of Arcadia), but Ella hesitates to go out with him due to the conflict of interest. It doesn't help that he considers her boss, gubernatorial candidate Martin Hunter (Michael Douglas, whose performance recalls Wall Street's Gordon Gekko), "too smooth," adding, "I'm not sure he's honest," but she eventually yields to C.J.'s charms (hey, it worked for Gabrielle Solis). Little does she realize that he plans to expose Hunter as a fraud--by framing himself for an unsolved murder. C.J. figures if he teams up with cameraman Finley (Joel Moore), he can't lose, but he never stops to consider the consequences if something happens to Finley or the video that proves his innocence. So, the trial proceeds, but once Hunter gets wind of the scheme, he goes after C.J. with all his might. Ella is the only one who can help him, but to do so means to put her career--maybe even her life--on the line. There's a nasty twist at the end of this entertaining, if shallow, courtroom drama, and director/cinematographer Peter Hyams, who previously worked with Douglas on The Star Chamber, sprinkles the suspense with some tension-relieving zingers from Orlando Jones as a cop who suspects something fishy is afoot. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

The film is pretty much a disaster. You can read all about why in the other 1 star reviews. The thing that gave me pause is we watch a DVD copy of part of a documentary that the "hero" made and that got him out of Buffalo, NY to San Francisco. The part of the documentary we see are REALLY bad, however. And you are supposed to be tipped off that something is off about the hero because the terrible documentary (bad acting, bad dialogue, bad cinematography, bad lighting, you name it) does not deserve the job promotion and his new girlfriend. The documentary is intentionally bad, in other words. The film itself is almost as bad. And that does not seem to be intentional. It is a film I watched only for professional reasons. I just wondered if the director identified with the hero and wanted his viewers to murder him for making this film. By the way, the original film by Fritz Lang is really great.Beyond A Reasonable Doubt (1956)